This may have triggered a love of house moving for her because shortly after she left secondary school she moved from Stratford to New Plymouth to be near her work at a plant nursery, which she enjoyed for a few years before moving back to Stratford into a rented villa. It was here that her first son, Jade, was born. Then Carmel and her partner decided to buy the house and renovate it.
Two years later they sold that property and moved to a rented farm cottage, often doing housework, gardening and milking in lieu of rent. But the urge to move on got the better of them and they bought a house 5km away in Midhirst, staying for a year before selling up and buying a house in Kaponga. They sold this to Carmel’s brother a year later and moved to a small Taranaki town called Tariki as she loved the country.
By now she had another son, Taylor, and both boys loved their small rural school.
Their next move was to Urenui, where they rented then purchased the property. This was a popular seaside area and ended up being the best deal so far as they paid $70,000 and sold it two years later, doubling their money.
The next move was to New Plymouth where Carmel made the mistake of buying before renting as she usually did. The neighbours were so noisy she couldn’t move out fast enough, so she sold up and rented only a few kilometres away in Waitara, where she had a good job.
Then she saw a property for sale at Pukearoha near Urenui, close to where the movie The Last Samurai was filmed.
Of course each time they moved they thinned out their possessions, resulting in their next move to the Waitara camping grounds where after purchasing a house bus they stayed put for two years.
Life seemed to settle for Carmel and her younger son Taylor until she saw a property for sale at Pukearoha on the same road she had been on before. There was half a hectare of grounds and a good house. There was also exceptionally fertile soil in which Carmel grew fantastic organic vegetables. Friends and family would visit on weekends, returning home with their car boots full of the fresh produce.
It was here that Carmel’s son Taylor got a great job helping with helicopter spraying which took him all over the North Island. He was also involved in ferrying actor Tom Cruise from his base to the film location while he was in New Zealand.
When The Last Samurai was finished Taylor left home to spread his wings and soon the isolation got too much for Carmel so she sold up, moving to rent a house at White Cliffs Walkways.
All up Carmel has bought 15 houses in about 20 years. She must know where every sock and teaspoon is by now. One of her boys was attending a Bible class once and the teacher commented that Jesus went from town to town preaching and moved around a lot. The young lad piped up, “Yes we do that”.
Now wait, there’s more. Carmel told me about her latest purchase near Urenui. About 18km up a clay road she bought an 18ha block of rough land which has had an old house moved on it. The house had to be cut in half for transportation and then put together again. The roof in the lounge leaks badly so she got her dad to help her drag the enamel bath in to the middle of the lounge floor. She put plastic buckets inside to catch the water and if they overflow while she is at work it won’t matter. Cooking is done on a six-burner gas barbecue. She has no phone or electricity and it’s a 45 minute drive to work each day.
With no TV to distract her she gets plenty of gardening done and as most of the land is covered in manuka and kanuka an apiarist has offered to lease the land for his bees, which should pay the rates.
I’ve been told the residents along the road are a bunch of dreamers as they keep hoping an oil company will come and offer megabucks for their land.
This last one was Carmel’s 55th shift. I don’t think this transient niece of mine will make it to NZ’s rich list through real estate but she is rich in love and laughter, sharing time and life skills.
And most importantly she is happy to keep living her very own dream.
